You know the drill by now. Two names that land back-to-back on Bret’s dynasty list for the position get thrown under the microscope—this time from a dynasty perspective. Today we’ll entertain quasi-starting options Marcus Semien and Nick Franklin. It’s worth noting that Semien will pick up shortstop eligibility relatively quickly, but for now he’s a second-sacker.

A few notations before diving right into the rankings. These are not BP consensus three-year ranks. These are Craig Goldstein’s three-year ranks and you’ll soon see why that distinction is important. I think it’s fair to say that my rankings are considerably different than those of the BP fantasy staff at large.

Choosing between the Jay and the Giant based on their projected statistics over the long haul.

As much as it pains me to say it, Matt Collins did an excellent job of introducing the 2015 Tale of the Tape series yesterday. I’m here with another installment, and a bit of a wrinkle. While last year’s (and yesterday’s) focused on the upcoming season, this year we’re bringing you the same template with an eye toward the future (and from a dynasty perspective). This doesn’t necessarily mean that the players in question will be prospects (as today’s are), but that they’re younger players that require more projection than an established regular. Of course, this also means that the conclusions drawn are a bit shakier, as projecting further out is a bit more hazardous. That doesn’t mean you can’t hold me to it though, when I’m inevitably, invariably, wrong. To kick off the dynasty portion of this series, let us look into the futures Blue Jays’ recent draftee Max Pentecost and Giants’ backstop Andrew Susac, who checked in at 24 and 25 on the Top 50 Catchers list, respectively.

These backstops need further seasoning, but they could hold fantasy value in the coming years.

Prospects are a tricky bag altogether, and while pitching prospects get the fancy acronyms (TINSTAAP), it’s worth noting just how hard it can be to accurately peg a future stud catcher, especially in fantasy. It’s a demanding position that saps strength, and makes it nigh impossible to be consistent offensive force. This makes what guys like Buster Posey and Jonathan Lucroy do year in and out all the more impressive.

It also makes investing in catching prospects extremely difficult. Remember when Matt Wieters was Mark Teixeira at catcher? Where did you have Yan Gomes ranked as a prospect? In fact, Ben Carsley made the case against investing in the position outside of deeper dynasty leagues in September. That is with the caveat that you can’t entirely ignore the position, and to that end we want you to be as informed as possible when you’re choosing who to ignore and who to target. We’ve broken the prospects you need to know into names for 2015 (immediate value) and 2016-and-beyond (long-term value). Still, there aren’t any catching prospects I’d be investing in as a fantasy starter for 2015 alone, a la Travid d’Arnaud last year.

The highest-payroll club unsurprisingly has a wealth of fantasy assets.

The kings of payroll can claim no legitimate throne, having been bounced early in the playoffs and losing the offseason to the Padres or the White Sox or someone else. They’ve made moves, no doubt, consistently trading players they’d just acquired, but to what end? Efficiency, no doubt, but also to give fantasy owners a bit of a headache. Despite trading Kemp, the Dodgers have a crowded outfield that’s likely to feature a platoon in center and a platoon in left, and that doesn’t address whatever it is Andre Ethier is going to do. The rotation additions are fantasy friendly though, as Brandon McCarthy escapes the offensive environments of Arizona and New York and lands in the much more neutral Chavez Ravine. Similarly, Brett Anderson will try to stay on the mound in a place much better suited to success than Coors, where he actually was pretty good anyway. A deep roster, pitching staff, and predictable back of the bullpen makes for a fantasy-friendly lineup, platoons or not.

A note for our readers. While informative, since we are still months away from pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training, these previews are far from definitive or complete. Free agent signings, trades, and other offseason news will change the landscape for most if not all teams. For any moves that take place after a team preview is written, please look to ourTransaction Analysiscoverage for instant reactions, and then check back on the Team Previews for more detailed updates (including lineups, rotations, bullpens, etc.) as we get closer to Opening Day.